Wayne Thiebaud (born Mesa, Arizona, November 23, 1920) is an
American painter whose most famous works are of cakes, pastries,
boots, toilets, toys and lipsticks. His last name is pronounced
"Tee-bo." He is associated with the Pop art movement because of
his interest in objects of mass culture, however, his works,
executed during the fifties and sixties, slightly predate the
works of the classic pop artists. Thiebaud uses heavy pigment
and exaggerated colors to depict his subjects, and the
well-defined shadows characteristic of advertisements are almost
always included in his work.
Thiebaud was born to Mormon parents in Mesa, Arizona, U.S.A..
His family moved to Long Beach, California when he was six
months old. One summer during his high school years he
apprenticed at the Walt Disney Studio. The next summer he
studied at a Los Angeles trade school. He earned a degree from
Sacramento State College in 1941. From 1938 to 1949, he worked
as a cartoonist and designer in California and New York and
served as an artist in the United States Navy.

In 1950, at the age of
thirty, he enrolled in Sacramento State where he earned a
Master's Degree in 1952 and began teaching at Sacramento City
College. In 1960, he became assistant professor at the
University of California, Davis, where he remained through the
1970s and influenced numerous artist students. However, he did
not have much following among Conceptualists because of his
adherence to basically traditional disciplines, emphasis on hard
work as a supplement to creativity, and love of realism.
Occasionally, he still gives pro bono lectures at U.C. Davis. On
a leave of absence, he spent time in New York City where he
became friends with Willem De Kooning and Franz Kline and was
much influenced by these abstractionists as well as proto pop
artists Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. During this time,
he began a series of very small paintings based on images of
food displayed in windows, and he focused on their basic shapes.

Returning to California,
he pursued this subject matter and style, isolating triangles,
circles, squares, etc. He also co-founded the Artists
Cooperative gallery, now Artists Contemporary Gallery, and other
cooperatives including Pond Farm, having been exposed to the
concept of cooperatives in New York. In 1960 he had his first
one-man show in San Francisco at the Museum of Art and in New
York City at the Staempfli and Tanager galleries. These shows
received little notice, but two years later, a 1962 Sidney Janis
Gallery exhibition in New York officially launched Pop Art,
bringing him national recognition although he disclaimed being
anything other than a painter of illusionistic form. In 1961
Thiebaud met and became friends with Allan Stone (1932-2006),
the man who gave him his first "break" decades ago. Stone was
Thiebaud's dealer until his (Stone's) death in 2006. Stone said
of Thiebaud "I have had the pleasure of friendship with a
complex and talented man, a terrific teacher and cook, the best
raconteur in the west with a spin serve, and a great painter
whose magical touch is exceeded only by his genuine modesty and
humility. Thiebaud's dedication to painting and his pursuit of
excellence inspire all who are lucky enough to come in contact
with him. He is a very special man." The Allan Stone Gallery is
currently located in New York City and carries many other
pop-artists artwork. Since Stone's death, Thiebaud's son Paul
has taken over as his dealer. Paul Thiebaud has been a
successful art dealer in his own right and has eponymous
galleries in Manhattan and San Francisco.

In 1962 Thiebaud's work
was included, along with Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Jim
Dine, Phillip Hefferton, Joe Goode, Edward Ruscha, and Robert
Dowd, in the historically important and ground-breaking "New
Painting of Common Objects," curated by Walter Hopps at the
Pasadena Art Museum. This exhibition is historically considered
one of the first Pop Art exhibitions in America. These painters
were part of a new movement, in a time of social unrest, which
shocked America and the art world and changed art forever.

In 1963 he turned
increasingly to figure painting, wooden and rigid with each
detail sharply emphasized. In 1964 he made his first prints at
Crown Point Press, and has continued to make prints throughout
his career. In 1967 his work was shown at the Biennale
Internationale. One of Thiebaud's successful students from
Sacramento City College was renowned artist, Fritz Scholder
(1937-2005) who went on to become a major influence in the
direction of Indian art through his instruction at the Institute
of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico (1964-1969).
Thiebaud is best known for his paintings of production line
objects found in diners and cafeterias, such as pies and
pastries. Many wonder if he spent time working in the food
industry, and in fact he did. As a young man in Long Beach, he
worked at a cafe named Mile High and Red Hot, where "Mile High"
was ice cream and "Red Hot" was a hot dog. He was associated
with the Pop art painters because of his interest in objects of
mass culture, however, his works, executed during the fifties
and sixties, slightly predate the works of the classic pop
artists, suggesting that Thiebaud may have had an influence on
the movement. Thiebaud uses heavy pigment and exaggerated colors
to depict his subjects, and the well-defined shadows
characteristic of advertisements are almost always included in
his work. In addition to pastries, Thiebaud has painted
landscapes, streetscapes, and popular characters such as Mickey
Mouse. His recent paintings such as Sunset Streets (1985) and
Flatland River (1997) are noted for their hyper realism, and are
in some ways similar to Edward Hopper's work, who was fascinated
with mundane scenes from everyday American life.

In his painting, he
focuses on the commonplace in a way that suggests irony and
objective distance from his subjects. He also makes a point of
keeping an independent distance from the New York School.

Eight Lipsticks

Cakes

Seven suckers

Pies, Pies, Pies

French Pastries
1963

Down Eighteenth Street
1980

Around the Cake

Apartment View

Blue Vendor
1963

Neapolitan Meringue

Man Sitting - Back View

San Francisco West Side Ridge

Mostrador de tartas

Bakery Counter

Confections
1962

Three Machines
1963

Candy Apples

Tie rack

Clown

Reservoir

Toy Counter, from the portfolio Seven Still Lifes and a Rabbit

Bird

Donuts and Cupcakes

Ballroom Couple

24th Street Intersection

Brown River

Hill Street

Two Players

Farm Channel

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